With a booming retail market and over 100 mn internet users in the country, e-commerce is likely to enter a high growth phase in coming years, economic advisor at the Department of Information Technology B.N. Satpathy said today.
 
Travel will continue lead the online trade of goods and services in India and globally as new business models emerge in e-commerce space, he said while addressing delegates at a conference organised by The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM).
 
Satpathy said the government is working on a new Information Technology Policy which will propel the growth of low-cost, internet-enabled and hand-held devices. He asked business chambers like ASSOCHAM to be an interface so that industry data gathering and dissemination can be made online.
 
Chamber secretary general D.S. Rawat said the market size of e-commerce industry is expected to be Rs. 46,520 crore by December 2011 with 81 per cent travel transactions and 6 per cent product purchases.
 
“India is poised to be one of the top e-commerce hubs in the near future as number of internet users boom. This will bring in a new revolution in retail industry,” he said adding the size of e-commerce globally is about 700 billion dollars.
 
Accelerated innovations have expanded the online retail market to 241 billion dollars in Europe, 176 billion dollars in the United States, 76.4 billion dollars in China and 10.3 billion dollars in India. 
 
The Indian retail industry is currently estimated at 520 billion dollars and e-commerce is a sub-set of it. With high GDP growth rate figures, young population with a median age of 25 years, large and relatively insulated rural tracts coupled with people’s hunger for achievement, the country is projected to witness maximum growth coming from tier II and tier III cities.

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